Summary
Summary SLK 220 - The Self
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Chapter 3 - The SelfWhat is the Self? (p64-72)
a) The Self’s Main Jobs
Much of the self is designed to enable you to relate to others (claiming a place in the cultural system).
The self has selfish impulses which can be bad for society. But the self understands moral values and acts on
these overriding one’s natural, selfish impulses.
3 Main Parts of the Self
1. Self-knowledge/Self-concept: a set of belief about oneself.
Through being self-aware, you gain self-knowledge.
2. Interpersonal Self/Public Self: the image of the self that is conveyed to others.
Helps the person connect socially to other people.
This public self resembles the self-concept, but the two are not the same.
The self works in complex ways to gain social acceptance. (Hide flaws & present yourself in a certain
way).
3. Agent Self/Executive function: the part of the self involved in control, including both control over other
people and self-control. The part that gets things done.
E.g., make yourself go out running even though the weather is bad and you feel lazy.
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, b) Who makes the Self: The Individual or Society?
◌ The self comes into being at the point of interaction between the inner biological processes of the human
body and the sociocultural network to which the person belongs.
A true or real self?
People believe that they have a “true inner self’. This belief determines how people act.
Ralph Turner: different cultures have different ideas about ‘the self’ by placing emphasis on one of two main
approaches:
- Emphasises the inner feelings as the true self
- Focuses on the way a person acts in public.
Turner’s point was that cultures disagree as to whether the public actions or the inner feelings count as the
more real or true side of the self.
Public actions can sometimes be used as a coping mechanism. A person’s coping ability is influenced by his
upbringing. E.g., A women may be encouraged to pray instead of just leave an abusive relationship.
Culture and Interdependence
◌Independent self-construal: a self-concept that emphasizes what makes the self different and sets it apart
from others.
◌Interdependent self-construal: a self-concept that emphasizes
what connects the self to other people and groups.
Easterners interdependent
Westerners independent
Ubuntu is defined as a comprehensive ancient African worldview
based on the values of intense humanness, caring, sharing,
respect, compassion and associated values. ‘I am because we are’.
Social Roles
What are selves for? The self has to gain social acceptance.
◌Social roles: the different roles a person plays, as in a play or a movie.
To achieve social roles, certain steps need to be taken. E.g., Engineerstudy, Spouse date, engaged, marry.
Human roles are flexible.
Most roles are ways of relating to other people within a cultural system.
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, c) Self-Awareness
◌Self-awareness: attention directed to the self.
◌Private self-awareness: looking inward on the private aspects of the self, including emotions, thoughts,
desires and traits.
◌Public self-awareness: looking outward on the public aspects of the self that others can see and evaluate.
Public self-awareness looks outward to understand the self.
Self-awareness involves evaluating the self, not just being aware of it.
A person compares himself against various standards, then coming up with good or bad evaluations of the self
based on these standards.
Standards
◌ Standards: Ideas of how things might possibly be.
Standards include ideas, norms, expectations, moral principles, laws, the way things were in the past and what
other people have done.
Qualities are not good or bad on their own but only when compared to certain standards.
people feel bad when comparing themselves to someone better but feel good when comparing themselves to
the average person.
When people fall short of standards:
- Change
- Escape
Changing the standard is easier than changing the self.
When people feel they can achieve a goal, their self-awareness becomes more, when they feel they cannot
reach a goal, self-awareness will be avoided.
Self-awareness and behavior
Self-awareness makes you behave better; it makes you more attuned to societal standards.
Self-awareness helps people to become less aggressive and conform to their sexual morals and stay on their
diets.
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